I've been hanging onto the notion that the more
continuity an MCLA programs had in its coaching staff,
the more success that program is going to have. It was an easy
assumption to make a couple of years ago when Flip Naumburg at
Colorado State, Jason Lamb at BYU and Michigan's John Paul —
three coaches who had been with their respective teams for at least
10 years — accounted for 10 of the 14 national titles at the
conclusion of the 2010 campaign.

Coaching longevity equals increased success. It appeared to be a
sound equation. When Alex Smith and Matt Schenck, the replacements
for Naumburg and Lamb, stumbled in 2010 with neither making it out
of the quarterfinals, it seemed to confirm my hypothesis.

This assumption, however, gave me a blind spot. When a series of
coaches were fired by either their recreational department or the
players around the same time, most notably the dismissal of Lamb,
my gut reaction was to side with the deposed coach. The fact that I
had a working relationship with those coaches and typically liked
them on a personal level — along with my inherent belief that
it was a step backward for the program as whole — my tendency
was to treat the firings as a mistake.

On a basic level, it was unfair. I was usually only getting one
side of the story and I was making a judgment when I didn't have
skin in the game. If a student-athlete is going to pay thousands of
dollars to play lacrosse or a rec department was going to lend its
name to a coach, it's their right to make their own decisions about
who they want to carry their flag.

My reversal has been a couple of years in the making. Schneck
and the Cougars bounced back in 2011, winning their fourth title,
followed last year when Smith picked up the Rams' MCLA-record fifth
crown, belying the notion that newer coaches couldn't be
successful. One might argue that this points to an advantage held
by some programs in terms of resources, size, etc. — and
there's probably a grain of truth to that — but there was now
a hole in my argument.

This year has provided further examples about the
short-sightedness of my assumption.

Phil Keebler has stepped in and replaced Joe Kerwin at Oregon,
and has the Ducks ranked No. 8 and playing at a very high level.
Kevin Orcutt, who is in his first year after replacing Pat
McCavanagh, has Boston College rolling, currently undefeated and
ranked No. 9. At No. 10 Minnesota-Duluth, Frank Clark and now Sam
Litman have followed in the steps of program founder Rob Graff and
the Bulldogs are just as competitive as they've always been.
First-year head man Andy Garrigan has No. 12 Texas playing at a
level we haven't seen in a long time.

The list goes on and there are also examples at the Division II
level, as well. Each one is a stick in the eye of my former point
of view.

I still don't like to see coaches get fired for all of the
reasons listed above, plus I hold MCLA coaches in high regard for
their willingness to promote the sport for very little
compensation, but my previous approach was wrong. Perhaps it was a
subconscious remnant from my days of covering only NCAA lacrosse
that I couldn't see clearly what I believe now: successful MCLA
programs are simply the product of good coaches, not the length of
their service.

Nick, you were at ground zero of several coaching changes that I
wrote about. While there is still a measure of disappointment about
the brief tenures of Mario Waibel and Lane Jaffe, there's no
question that the UC Santa Barbara players and rec staff has found
its match with the rehiring of Mike Allan. Is this something you've
known all along?

SCHOOLER: There are an assortment of pieces that make
up a successful program. The most important in my mind are the
capacity to draw talented players (i.e. past success, good
academics, fun atmosphere, etc.) and the ability to admit those
players into the school (i.e. low admission standards, pull within
the admissions department, etc.). Coaching longevity or consistency
is in a way tied to that, but for the purpose of this piece, I will
address coaching. In several of the examples you mentioned, teams
went from one great coach to another, but they were still able to
draw top talent while keeping a consistent coaching style.

A great example of that is Alex Smith from Colorado State. He
played and coached under Flip Naumburg for several seasons before
taking the reigns, and the Rams did not lose a step. While I was
not connected directly with the program, I heard that Alex Smith
had already taken on a significant portion of the coaching
responsibility before eventually taking over, so it may have eased
the transition.

For something a little closer to home for me, I have been around
all five coaching changes for UCSB as a fan, player, and alumni
since 1999. Scott Demonte came to the Gauchos that year to take
over a program that had experienced some success under the previous
coach. He made the Gauchos a perennial top tier team in the course
of his tenure, concluding with a national championship loss to CSU
in 2003. Unfortunately, that summer, he took a job at D-III
Plattsburgh State.

When Demonte broke the news to me, I felt lost because we were
so close, but he said he was not going to leave us without a good
replacement. He told me something along the lines of getting us a
coach who would make the smoothest transition. I recommended Mike
Allan, a coach I actually wanted to play for when looking into
colleges, who was coaching at UCLA at the time. Demonte talked to
him and convinced him to take the job. To be honest, there probably
wasn't much convincing needed. Allan was going to inherit a team
loaded with talent and in a beautiful location.

It was a relatively smooth transition because both coaches were
great with Xs and Os and ran the same style of offense. We went on
to win the next two national championships and make the semifinals
for four consecutive seasons. I believe that because their coaching
styles were similar, there was no drop off, something similar to
the Colorado State situation.

The following coaching changes were not as smooth for the
Gauchos. Mike Allan left abruptly to take a position as offensive
coordinator at Towson. Waibel, a coach who had many connections at
the local level, won the job. I was not directly involved with the
program at the time, but I believe that Waibel's coaching style was
dramatically different from Allan's and did not work well with the
players that were in place. He was fired by the players and
replaced by Jaffe. I believe Jaffe's style fit the players better,
but after a year, he had to re-apply for the job, and the rest is
history.

Allan has done a great job the last season and a half. They are
on an upward swing and will hopefully make more noise than usual
this season.

Of course, the players play a major role in all of this. Without
top athletes, none of these coaches would have any success, but a
consistent coaching scheme can make a major difference in the
success of a team.

On to the games, where Coyne is coming off another 5-0 week and
enjoying a comfortable lead, 22-8 to 15-15.

COYNE: Admittedly, I was a little suspect of the Buffs
heading into this season, but they've lived up to their preseason
ranking so far, backstopped by Brad Macnee, who is currently the
frontrunner for Player of the Year (we'll give him a pass for the
11 goals against Fraser). UCSB continues its trend of making every
game close, no matter the competition, although they showed some
grit rallying late against Texas.

As those who have been following this space know, I am
perpetually leery of the "Double Down" – when one teams
travels and plays a pair of teams that have no other games on their
schedule. While technically this is only a partial Double Down (Cal
Poly plays UC Davis on Saturday), the Buffs will be playing a pair
of fresh teams, including the Gauchos on the second day. I'm going
to break from tradition and take the Buffs because of Macnee and
their goal-scoring prowess this season. Colorado, 8-7.

SCHOOLER: UCSB will come out with an early lead, but
not because the Buffs play Cal Poly the night before. The Gauchos
have allowed 20 first half goals while scoring 36 of their own.

The second half will be a different story. The Gauchos have
given up more than twice as many goals (43) in the second half so
far this season. So I can see this being another nail biter just
like the Stanford, Cal, CSU, and Texas games.

This isn't because the Gauchos are running out of gas --
they are also scoring more goals in the second half (46). The
defense cannot become complacent when they get a lead. They need to
keep the pressure on and I see them doing so in their first game in
the stadium this season. Gauchos win, 10-8.

COYNE: It's not going to be the best game of the
weekend (see below), but this will be the most intriguing. We
discussed Duluth's plight last week,
and now it is entering a critical contest against a Michigan State
team we know very little about.

They have a new coach — Brandon Schwind has taken over for
Dwayne Hicks — and we know that the Spartans are loaded with
talent, but is it realistic to pick a team that has yet to play a
game against the Bulldogs, which have already measured themselves
against a pair of semifinal squads from '12? The Spartans will be
just fine during the rest of the season, and likely cruise to the
CCLA title, but they'll be running into a buzzsaw here. Bulldogs,
12-7.

SCHOOLER: As discussed last week, this is a must win
for Duluth, and a doable one at that. This will be the first game
for the Spartans, but expect them to start where they left off.
They have kept their core intact and look to improve on their 12-4
record last season.

I see this as the end of the road for any hope of the UMLC
getting a team to South Carolina. Sparty, 9-6.

COYNE: Ah, the game of the week. It features a pair of
semifinalists from last year who are definitely heading back to
Greenville, but both want this win just in case Colorado State
stumbles and the top seed becomes available at some point. Oh, and
it also happens to be a rematch of the '11 title game, won by the
Cougars, 10-8.

The Sun Devils are certainly a more dangerous team than last
year, when they were forced to rely heavily on their defense and
pray for a couple of opportunistic goals. Still, they rely on
heavily on the one-on-one abilities of Payson Clark and Justin
Straker, who account for over half of ASU's goals this spring.
Clark and Straker are undoubtedly good, but that kind of top-heavy
scoring makes game-planning relatively simple. BYU has some holes,
and they will get a handful from Grand Canyon on Thursday, but
they'll find enough goals to take this one down. Cougars, 12-9.

SCHOOLER: The Sun Devils are in a comfortable place.
They do not have to leave the state of Arizona for the rest of the
regular season. The Cougars are stepping out of the mountains and
into the desert, and it is tough to win games in Scottsdale.

I will be visiting Arizona this weekend, but will not have the
time to check out the game. That is unfortunate because I believe
this will be a good one. I can see this being a classic battle of
defenses. I'm sticking with the SLC in a close one. Devils,
8-7.

SCHOOLER: This is a bold trip for the Bobcats. The PCLL
must be gaining a lot of respect if teams are leaving the warmth of
places like Texas to play some lacrosse in the chilly northeast. I
have tried playing in the cold before, and if you are not used to
it, it is all you can think about during the game.

Texas State better hope for warm weather because I do not see it
in the forecast. This Northeastern team is good despite their
winless record. Those losses all came at the hands of teams much
better than Texas State. Huskies win, 13-9.

COYNE: The records entering this game would lend one to
believe that Texas State is the prohibitive favorite in this
contest, but in actuality, the Bobcats are underdogs. Northeastern
showed on its season-opening trip to California – where it
lost by a goal to No. 13 Cal and No. 3 Stanford, and by three to
No. 7 UCSB in the third game in four days – that it can run
with anyone. Meanwhile, TxState has played one team of note, No. 9
Boston College, and lost, 9-7.

The Bobcats have some offensive weapons in Dom Pizzuti (24g,
5a), Clark Dansby (18g, 4a) and Andy Uhl (17g, 15a), but they may
never see the ball. Mike Lehmann, who happens to lead the Huskies
in points at this point, is one of the top faceoff men in the
country, and will control possessions for Northeastern all
afternoon. Eventually, the State defensive will wear down under the
constant pressure, leading to a comfortable win for NU. Huskies,
13-8.

COYNE: Look at the Panthers and 'Lopes, all grown up.
The two teams that bumped up from Division II to the senior circuit
finally square off and, most impressively, they are both doing it
with a national ranking. Grand Canyon has a better resume at this
point, including a victory over No. 22 Arizona and a one-goal loss
to No. 5 Chapman. Meanwhile, Davenport has a couple of walkovers
against CCLA lightweights.

Both of these teams play on Thursday night — GCU versus
No. 2 BYU and Davenport against 'Zona — before their
showdown, which doesn't really favor either. This is a tough one to
call, so I'm going to default to last year, and take the Panthers
in an upset. DU, 15-13.

SCHOOLER: I came out doubting GCU this season. I did
not believe that a team could make the transition from DII to DI
with success in the first season, but the 'Lopes have proven me
wrong. While Davenport is strong, they do not have the DI resume
that Grand Canyon has.

It is only fitting that both teams come into this game ranked
No. 24 and No. 25. It's like the lacrosse gods wanted it that way.
So we know this will be a close one, but I am going with GCU,
13-12, in overtime.